Xenosaga Roundrobin 2: Hide And Seek
by TheShoelessOne
Summary: A roundrobin by Erin, KerKer, and Nikisama. When the Kukais play hideandseek they mean business. This of course includes guns, hostages, radars, and more...


AN: Me, my sister and my best friend wrote these round-robin stories when we were up until 5:00 in the morning on a sugar-high from too much Sprite Remix, so... I think that might explain some things... Anyway, read on!  
  
The golden eyes of the intruder flashed in the red warning lights that shone in the hallway. Her lithe form hopped up into a ventilator shaft. She looked both ways, then motioned for the two other men to follow her. They had to escape. They just HAD to.  
  
  
  
'Find them!' a twelve-year-old boy barked to a bunch of soldier-like people. He had red hair and an earring in his left ear. He ran around hallways frantically looking for the escapees. 'Damn it!' he cursed. He almost ran into a tall man with black hair that was wearing a suit.  
  
'What's going on, Jr.?' he said, worry on his face.  
  
'Oh, just playing team Hide-and-Seek, Gaignun,' he said cheerfully.  
  
"Ah." Gaignun said, looking around a bit. He bent down to Jr.'s level and cupped his hand to his ear.  
  
"In the ventilator." He whisper. Jr. looked upwards and shot one bullet in the ceiling. There was a woman's scream.   
  
"Ah. You're right." Jr. said. "Thanks, but you don't need to follow me around everywhere, why are you even in this part of the ship?"  
  
"Ah yes...about that. There's something important I must tell you." Gaignun blinked a few times. Jr. nodded and closed his eyes.  
  
'What is it?' Jr. said telepathically to Gaignun.   
  
"I think they found us!" MOMO whispered to Ziggy and Allen. Allen whined.  
  
"Great! Now we're gonna have to be-"  
  
A bullet ricochet around the ventilator, causing MOMO to scream. Ziggy grabbed her out of the way before the bullet could hit her.   
  
"This is getting out of hand," Ziggy murmured. He extended the blade on his arm and cut a hole in the ventilator shaft, pushing MOMO up into it. Allen cringed.  
  
"You think you're gonna fit me up there?" Allen asked. Ziggy grabbed him by the collar and shoved him through the hole.  
  
"Yes," he answered. Ziggy crawled into the hole, then sealed it up by placing the metal back into place.  
  
Jr. cursed under his breath. 'Looks like they moved... Anyway, what is it you need to tell me?'  
  
'It.....It's nothing, just....nothing." Gaignun said.  
  
"Ow! Get your foot off of my leg! It's made of metal, you know!" Allen whispered harshly. Ziggy nudged him gruffly, trying to get him to shut up.  
  
"Jr. informed us that if we can evade him for a certain amount of time, then we will be rewarded." Ziggy's eyes glared at Allen, "You want that reward, don't you?"  
  
"Yeah, but how do we know what it's gonna be? It can't be much better than being stuck in this hole with a cyborg who can't put his feet-"  
  
"Shh!" MOMO warned. She cocked her head, as if listening. "They're coming into the ventilation system!"  
  
"If we're quiet, they may not notice us. It might be too dark for them to see our route of escape."  
  
"I hope so..." MOMO whispered, pulling herself closer to Ziggy.  
  
"...I'm hungry..." Allen said quietly.  
  
Jr. slowly crawled up behind Allen. SNAP! he heard. Everyone turned around and looked at him. He felt the floor start to buckle. 'Oh SHI-!!!!' he said, falling out of the ventilation system.  
  
Gaignun sighs. "Times are tough." He says quietly as four people fall from the ceiling one by one on top of each other behind him. Gaignun slowly turns around to see the pile of people then sighs again.  
  
"Yes...times are tough."  
  
"AUGH! He's found us!" Allen screamed, leaping up from the pile of humans. Ziggy grabbed MOMO, flung her over his shoulder, then knocked the screaming Allen unconscious and dragged him along behind him, firing a blinding shot at Jr.'s feet. This caused Jr. to recoil, shielding his eyes from the blinding blast. He got one last glance at the cyborg as he rounded the corner with a frightened MOMO on his shoulder and an incapacitated Allen being dragged after him.   
  
"You win this round, cyborg," Jr. mused. He pulled out a walkie-talkie. "Mary! Shelley! The bogies are rounding the corner in the Dock, heading for the train. You head them off at all possible junctions!"  
  
"Yes, Little Master," Shelley responded.  
  
Jr. looked around him for a faster means of travel. He spied a cart that the maintenance people used to get around the Durandal. 'All RIGHT! SWEET!' He hopped in and turned the key that a person had so carelessly left in the ignition.  
  
Gaignun blinked at Jr., then realized what he was doing. 'Ack! Jr! Don't!' he yelled, but it was too late.  
  
'WHOO HOO!' Jr. yelled, turning the corner on two wheels. Gaignun shook his head.  
  
Jr. sped through the halls until he completely passed up the three, he saw them turn around and bolt the other way.  
  
"Not so fast!" Jr. grins as he sharply turned the wheels. Actually, it was such a sharp turn that Jr. completely toppled over on it.  
  
"Damn!" He cursed as he had trouble getting the cart backup and zoomed toward the others. But They happened to run in and close the door right when Jr. got there. Gaignun came up, exhausted.  
  
"JR.!" He yelled.  
  
"Ow ow ow ow OW!" Allen whined, rubbing his head in pain. Ziggy unloaded MOMO from his shoulders.  
  
"Forgive me, Allen, but there was no other way I could have made you follow me without your consumption of time whining."  
  
"Hey! I don't whine!" he whined. Ziggy rolled his eyes. MOMO gave an apprehensive glance around the room.  
  
"I don't think we'll be safe here for too long," MOMO told the others. Allen hopped up onto the shelves that surrounded the perimeter of the room.  
  
"How 'bout we hide out here?" he asked as he extended his hand to help the little Realian up. She took it, and the two took to the top shelves. Ziggy stared at the bags of flour on the floor, then, without thinking, lifted two of them onto his shoulders. MOMO turned around.  
  
"What are you doing?" she asked him.   
  
"A distraction. If he's temporarily blinded, and he thinks you are with me, it's me who he will go after. When we go... run."  
  
Jr. stood there with his head down as Gaignun lectured him. He sang a song in his head and totally ignored what his "father" said.  
  
'Understand, Jr.?' Gaignun said, finishing. Jr. snapped back into reality.  
  
'Uh... yeah... sure I do...' he said. He looked back over at the room where his prey was hiding and saw the door open slightly. He grinned fiendishly and ran over to the door, slamming it closed. He quickly drove the cart over and blocked the door with it. He started climbing into the vents again in an attempt to get inside the barricaded room.  
  
'Why do I even bother...' Gaignun said, sighing in exasperation again.  
  
Jr. looked downwards upon the unsuspecting prey. They seemed to be setting up a trap for him from the door.  
  
"Ha, they thought I'd break in. Ohoho, are they wrong."   
  
MOMO suddenly leapt upon Jr. gagging him with a large washcloth they had found in the closet. Allen bound his hands with rope. The both of them tossed the "boy" down to Ziggy, who tied his feet and tied them inside a bucket. Had he been un-gagged, all of them were sure they would have heard many different curses in a few languages. MOMO and Allen helped Ziggy up on the shelves, all of them waving farewell to the poor, gagged and bound Rubedo.  
  
"Thanks for the tip," Ziggy said as the three of them crawled back into the ventilation.  
  
'DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' Jr. raged, shaking the walls even though it was a little muffled. He raged on for a couple minutes.  
  
Jr. wailed and kicked (well tried to kick) making muffled curses and threatening sentences.  
  
"Good job, everyone." Ziggy said. "We'll leave him here until the game is over, let's keep moving."  
  
Everyone nodded in agreement and started crawling.  
  
"MI! MOME MAMK RMOIMT NOM!" Jr. screamed, now knocking himself over in the bucket. Now he was gagged and on his side. He moaned in sadness. Then suddenly he used what hand space he had to bring out his walkie-talkie and throw it up, only knocking him on the head then falling feet away from him. He wiggled and squirmed his way over to it, turning it on with his chin.  
  
"Mawee! Vwentiwation! Nowww!" He said as clear as possible. Mary answer.  
  
"Rodger, Little master!"  
  
"Little Mastah's got 'imself in trouble agin?" Mary asked as she began to climb into the ventilation shaft. Shelley sat on the wrecked cart.  
  
"Right. I think he's trying to tell us that the prey has escaped into the vents. If you follow them, you have a good probability of catching them."  
  
"Righty, then!" Mary said, opening the vent. She looked in the shaft she was supposed to crawl into, when a foot suddenly planted itself in Mary's face. Shelley gasped and stepped back as Mary fell in a crying heap. Allen looked out of the shaft, his face contorted in horror.  
  
"Oh, God! I broke her nose! I didn't mean it, Mary! I didn't-"  
  
"Come on!" Ziggy grunted as he wrenched Allen back into the vents.   
  
"Forgive me, Maryyyyyyy!!!" Allen called as the three of them crawled deep into the innards of the Durandal.  
  
'YOU JERK!' Mary wailed. 'I'LL HAVE YOUR HIDE FOR THIS!!!' She held her nose with one hand, blood starting to drip, and crawled into the vent. She saw Allen's bum scrambling away furiously and pulled out a gun. 'MEANIE!' she yelled. She heard Allen yelp with pain as the bullet she fired connected with his butt.  
  
"MY BUTT!" Allen screamed. Mary fell down the ventilation, hitting Shelly down too.  
  
"Please refrain from any more falling."  
  
"Oh quiet, ya 'ngratful sistah!"Mary screamed, wiggling around in pain. Suddenly, Gaignun came around the corner to see the two.  
  
"Where's Rubedo?" Gaignun said. Mary quickly got up and fell into Gaignun's arms.  
  
"Oh it wass horribl' mastah! Those meanies went and kick me n' deh nose, he did! Look at m' nose!" Gaignun paused to look at Mary for a second and cast her to one side, (making her whine 'nobody loves me!) running to Shelly.  
  
"Where's Rubedo?" He asked her. Shelly pointed dumbly to one room and Gaignun ran in, seeing poor Jr. tied and gagged on his side, trying to get the gag off by rubbing it against the walkie-talkie.  
  
"Hewp mwe." He said pitifully. Gaignun and Shelly looked at each other in a look that said, 'how did I know' and then went to untie him.  
  
"MY BUTT, MY BUTT, MY BUUUUUTT!!!" Allen cried, holding his bum. MOMO suppressed a laugh and tried to act concerned. Ziggy shielded MOMO behind him, and turned Allen around. Allen began to freak out.  
  
"WHAAAAT?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Allen shouted, mostly out of pain, but from shock as well.   
  
"I'm going to get the bullet out. It'll only cause infection if it remains in the wound," Ziggy informed the Vector employee. Allen shrieked.  
  
"But that's MY BUTT!!!"  
  
"I'm aware of this," Ziggy said in an unpleasant tone. "But it may save time and pain... so... MOMO, shield your eyes."  
  
MOMO did this, snickering quietly. All she heard was a scream of total anguish, then silence.  
  
Gaignun untied Jr. 'THANK YOU!!!' Jr. said, hugging Gaignun. He showered him with more thanks, then looked at Mary's bloody hand covering her nose. 'What happened to you?' She started wailing again and babbling incoherently. Suddenly, they heard Allen shriek like he was dying a slow, painful death.  
  
Gaignun cleared his throat. 'Short version: Allen accidentally broke her nose, and she shot him in the ass.'  
  
'Ouch.' Jr. said, wincing.  
  
'Anyway, I'm in now.' Gaignun grinned evilly. 'Let's go to the bridge.'  
  
"Alriiiight!" Jr. cheered as all four ran to the bridge. Gaignun walked to the front and pointed to one of the Realians. '  
  
"Scan the area for a group of a human, cyborg, and a Realian." He said strictly.  
  
"Master is cheating again." Shelly said. Mary cupped her hand to whisper but was loud anyway.  
  
"Mastah likes his cheats."  
  
"Hey! Silence in the back!" Gaignun said loudly, blushing a bit.  
  
"Here, sir." The Realian said, bringing in a 3-D map of the ship and zooming in on an area in the ventilation where three shapes were rapidly moving.  
  
"Ah, there they are. It seems that they are on a one way path to the game room. If we can seem like there's no turning back it's possible that we can capture them there. Mary, Shelly. You go to the vent in the game room."  
  
"Hey, wah not you, mastah?" Mary asked.  
  
"Because, I always get the most important job...always being a step ahead of them." Gaignun said with a huge smile.  
  
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow..." Allen whimpered as he limped along the passage, whining. MOMO tugged lightly at Ziggy's arm.  
  
"Ziggy... I sense that there are people ahead of us AND behind us..." MOMO said quietly. Ziggy stopped in the vent, causing everyone else to stop.  
  
"How many are ahead?" he asked.  
  
"About 10. They're grouped together, I can't really tell."  
  
"And behind?"  
  
"... I think the same amount."  
  
"How about above?"  
  
"..... No one!" MOMO said with a smile.   
  
"Right," Ziggy said, punching a hole below them, causing all three of them to fall to the floor. MOMO and Allen both made a very confused sound.  
  
"I don't get it..." Allen said.   
  
"Of course you don't," Ziggy told him, and he motioned for the two of them to follow him to the Dock area.  
  
'Master!' Shelly called over a walkie-talkie. 'They don't appear to be coming this way anymore. We heard a thud, then a change of direction.'  
  
'Damn,' Gaignun muttered. 'They must have punched the bottom of the vent out... They're heading down... Rubedo!' he barked at him.  
  
'I'm on it,' he said, running from the bridge.  
  
Gaignun opened a small compartment and grabbed a small gadget out of it. He started to run down the halls while looking at it. It had a small picture of the ship with different colors for every person (it showed Gaignun, Jr., Mary, Shelly, Ziggy, Allen, and MOMO) and it came with speaker to listen in on Ziggy and the gang and a walkie- talkie.   
  
"Jr.! Go to your left and Mary go to the dock and block off all leaving trains."  
  
"You got it!" Jr. yelled.  
  
"Yessire, mastah!" Mary chirped. Gaignun pressed a button on the monitor and then shouted into the speaker.   
  
"All hands! Block passageway to the Elsa and Foundation! And I mean NOW!" Gaignun yelled. The hallways turned red with flashing light and all the doors were sealed. Gaignun boarded the last train to the dock with Mary and Shelly and the door slowly slid open, the sight of Ziggy, Allen, and MOMO in the middle with Jr. and a bunch of soldier pointing their guns toward the three. Gaignun smiled, slowly getting up and walking towards them with Mary and Shelly walking directly behind him.  
  
"It seems that the game is over...and the winner is..." Gaignun outstretched his hand to tag Ziggy when a tiny, hardly audible beep sounded from Jr.'s pants. Every single person turned their heads and watched as Jr. reached in his pocket and brought out a tiny watch.  
  
"Uhm.. Gaignun.. uhh....time's up...they win." He said, heartbroken. Gaignun stared blankly at Jr., then stared at Ziggy, who formed a smile, then back at Rubedo.  
  
"They..............WHAT?" Gaignun said loudly.  
  
"Won, sir." A soldier said immediately. Gaignun look at everyone, then fell on his back, fainting.  
  
"Well that was strange, don'tcha think, sis?" Mary said, looking at the passed out Gaignun on the floor.  
  
"The master tastes defeat at last. It must hurt." Shelly said quietly, grabbing one arm as Mary grabbed the other and they dragged him to the train.  
  
"Ouch." Jr. said.  
  
Later...  
  
"So this is what I miss when I go shopping..." Shion muttered under her breath.  
  
"Shh," Allen told her, a grin on his face, "They're gonna start it!"  
  
Cameras, their lenses focusing in on Jr., Gaignun, Mary and Shelley standing on the bridge of the Durandal, started broadcasting the four of them across the entire U.M.N. Jr. screwed his face up, his cheeks burning with humiliation. MOMO, sitting with Ziggy and Allen, called out, "You promised!"  
  
"We're gettin' to it!" Jr. shouted. He sighed, then motioned for the others to begin with him. They all put their left arms on their hip, then their right arms up in the air. Simultaneously, they began to sing.  
  
"I'm a little teapot,  
  
Short and stout.  
  
Here is my handle,  
  
Here is my spout."  
  
MOMO and Allen burst out in laughter, along with the entire Durandal crew, who all made sure to tune into the U.M.N. Even Ziggy managed to pull a smile, watching with satisfaction as his adversaries embarrassed themselves in front of the entire galaxy. MOMO tugged at Ziggy's hand. He looked down at her.  
  
"That's what you get when you mess with us, right Ziggy?"  
  
"I'm a fuckin' teapot!!" Jr. shouted, making some of the crew of the Durandal cringe.   
  
"I guess so." Ziggy said. 


End file.
